Our Week in the Forest...

This week we have been continuing our Christmas theme with the forest bursting with imagination, creativity, the sound of music and a sprinkling of snow!

We started off with a day full of storytelling, inspired by their incredible role-playing narratives and our regular storytelling sessions. The children had the opportunity to have their own stories scribed which they all wanted to share with each other throughout the day. It was wonderful to see even some of our youngest two years olds eager to share their fantastical storylines, some were also acted out by our budding actors and actresses, with the roars of monsters, snapping of crocodiles and hissing of snakes being heard across the gardens of Fulham Palace.

Music filled the air when our tipi became the stage for a music extravaganza. We started with a few Christmas songs accompanied by musical instruments before moving on to some familiar songs we have been learning that particularly support children’s speech and language development. They enjoyed experimenting with the musical instruments, banging the drums and ringing the bells to the beat of the music. It was truly impressive to hear how quickly the children learnt the songs and alongside keeping the rhythm on their instrument of choice.

Even the leaves were treated to a splash of colour once the screen printing equipment came out in the forest. The children loved experimenting with combinations of colours, printing leaf details and silhouettes on fabric, tree stumps and even our benches.

With all the energy of stories, artistic creations and music floating around the forest it was time to introduce some real magic to our storytelling towards the end of the week. So, when all was calm and quiet in the tipi and only a whisper could be heard, in flew an owl into the children’s imaginations. The children helped the owl on its adventure to return the colours to the forest, gathering yellow from the sun, the blue of the sky and few of the owl’s beautiful red feathers to create a magical potion, but not your usual bubbling concoction, this one turned into snow, not just imaginary snow but the real thing!